Automatic teller machines (ATMs) have become a ubiquitous part of everyday life.
ATMs are widely used to make transactions with a variety of financial instruments because they often provide for quick, easy, and more convenient service than, for example, interaction at a bank with a teller. Currently, however, ATMs have some shortcomings that simply cannot match the level of service provided when making a transaction with an actual bank teller. When conducting an in-person deposit, for example, there are opportunities to abort a transaction or remedy any errors that occurred during the processing of the transaction. If a teller miscounts a stack of bills, for example, the customer can simply ask the teller to recount the bills until agreement is reached. As a result, errors are quickly resolved with little to no inconvenience to the customer, the teller, or the bank. Errors or disputes with ATMs, on the other hand, can be somewhat more difficult to resolve. ATM deposits can be a challenge for many customers for a variety of reasons. ATMs generally have a single deposit throat or inlet, for example, which pulls financial instruments into the machine and processes them out of view of the customer. And, because it can be difficult to retrieve the bills or checks once inserted into the machine, the customer must hope that the financial instruments are correctly processed. During this time, the customer generally can no longer see or access their deposited financial instruments.
In some cases, customers may receive incorrect credit, or lose their deposit altogether, due to machine error, leaving the customer to file a dispute with the bank and hope that the financial instrument(s) can be recovered and properly credited to the customer. As with any machine, ATMs can also fail or jam during use. As a result, at least some portion of customers will only make deposits directly with a bank teller. This generally increases the time required for the customer to make a deposit and increases labor and capital costs for the bank, among other things.
What is needed, therefore, is a visible and accessible escrow system that can provide access to financial instruments during ATM transactions and improve the transparency of financial instrument processing at ATMs. The system should improve the customer's control during a transaction, increasing comfort in, and the use of, ATMs for deposits, bill pay, and other financial transactions. Embodiments of the present disclosure address this need as well as other needs that will become apparent upon reading the description below in conjunction with the drawings.